Question I'm looking for an SSD for an external enclosure ?

[Hsuan]

I’ve narrowed my search down to the Sk Hynix Platinum P41 2tb at 150USD and the Silicon Power XS70 2tb at 127USD. Bearing in mind that I’ll be using the SSD in an external SSD enclosure via thunderbolt4 which caps at PCIe 3 speeds but compatible with PCIe 4 SSDs as well. I tried to read the reviews on these drives.

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sk-hynix-platinum-p41-ssd-review

Silicon Power XPower XS70 SSD Review: Fast, Attractive, and Affordable

High-end gaming drive without a high-end price.

www.tomshardware.com

But honestly, it left me more confused from a normies perspective. I narrowed down to these two because I want DRAM cache, and I heard Samsung SSDs currently have problems with their 2tb configurations of drives, and that the cheaper options like the Acer Predator M7000 uses a faulty controller that could give out really fast. So I come hoping to spark some discussion on these SSDs or perhaps an alternative option? ( have not really considered PCIe 3 drives since I realized they’re roughly the same price as PCIe 4 drives like the Samsung 970 Evo Plus which is somehow almost double the price of the XS70)

Edit: I forgot to mention the external SSD enclosure I’m planning on using is the Acasis TBU405Pro M1. Reason is it uses the JHL7440 controller which is compatible with my system (mac) and runs cooler than the ASM2464PD controller (which has compatibility issues/runs at half the read speed) in newer external SSD enclosures.

I’m thinking if the SSD came with a heatsink maybe I’ll leave it on and forget the bottom plate of the enclosure or if I could somehow get it in contact with the top of my mac and that as heatsink (idk).

 

[Lutfij]

if PCIe3.0 is the most the enclosure will grant you, then you should look into PCIe3.0 SSD's unless you intend to migrate the SSD's onto another motherboard/platform that can take advantage of PCIe4.0 speeds. One brand comes to mind when thinking of PCIe3.0 SSD's is Samsung's 970 Evo Plus though only a handful of brands come close to the read write speeds of the Samsung mentioed above.

Where are you located and how much have you allocated to your drive purchase?

 

[Hsuan]

if PCIe3.0 is the most the enclosure will grant you, then you should look into PCIe3.0 SSD's unless you intend to migrate the SSD's onto another motherboard/platform that can take advantage of PCIe4.0 speeds. One brand comes to mind when thinking of PCIe3.0 SSD's is Samsung's 970 Evo Plus though only a handful of brands come close to the read write speeds of the Samsung mentioed above.

Where are you located and how much have you allocated to your drive purchase?

I’m located in Taiwan. I don’t mind saving a few bucks but oddly enough drives like the 970 Evo Plus 2tb is more expensive where I am; it’s 189USD. That’s why I haven’t really considered PCIe 3 based SSDs because PCIe 4 SSDs that are also 2tb and with DRAM cache are even cheaper. My first thought when I got into this was to just get the Samsung 980 base model but honestly speaking the 1tb capacity (at 68USD ) is just… too low…My enclosure costs 100USD and it can only fit one SSD at a time. Maybe I’m overthinking this part? (I heard there’s some QC problems with the Samsung SSDs controller in the 980 pro; I’d like to avoid Samsung)

As for my allocated budget; well I haven’t really allocated an amount. I was considering the Seagate Firecuda 530 2tb but it’s more expensive (178USD) and I don’t see the benefit compared to the other SSDs?

I’ll just add some price points to some popular SSDs so it’s better for comparisons sake.
SK Hynix Platinum P41 2tb- 150USD
SP PowerX XS70 2tb- 127USD
Seagate Firecuda 530 2tb-214USD (178USD for Starwars version with the LEDs…)
Samsung 990 Pro 2tb - 156USD
Samsung 990 Evo 2tb (no DRAM; why so expensive?)- 145USD
Samsung 980 Pro 2tb- 136USD
Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2tb- 189USD
Crucial P5 Plus 2tb- 132USD
WD SN850X 2tb- 170USD
(Oddly enough no Sabrent SSDs are sold here)

I must say I’m not tech savy and the data on the original reviews I didn’t really know what they meant and if it even applied to my use case. Like the programs for data recovery or firmware updates, would they even be usable on an external SSD on a Mac? I don’t even know…If that’s the only added benefit the SK Hynix P41 has over the XS70 than that’s a waste of money…But how about temperatures? I think I need to consider temperature more

PS Thanks for the reply

 

[dwd999]

I would also consider a Solidigm P44 if you can get that at a good price.

 

[Hsuan]

I would also consider a Solidigm P44 if you can get that at a good price.

153USD
Thanks for the suggestion, I read the review from Shane Downing
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/solidigm-p44-pro-ssd-review/3
It looks like a re-speced Platinum P41 with more software support. It seems like a better option thank you